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Television in Malaysia

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Malaysian television broadcasting was introduced on New Year's Eve 1963. Color television was introduced on New Year's Eve 1978. Full time colour transmissions were launched on New Year's Day 1982. There are currently 8 free-to-air television stations in Malaysia and 3 pay-to-view based television networks.

Television providers

Subscription providers are available, with differences in the number of channels, capabilities such as the programme guide (EPG), video on demand (VOD), high-definition (HD), interactive television via the red button, and coverage across Malaysia. Set-top boxes are generally used to receive these services. Households viewing TV from the internet are not tracked by the Malaysian government.

Provider Free or pay No. broadcast channels VOD HD Red button Country of origin Transmission
Analogue terrestrial Free Varies by area, but up to 8 may be available. No No No  Malaysia Analogue terrestrial
Astro Pay Around 130 (Television and Radio) Yes Yes Yes  Malaysia Digital satellite
Hypp.TV Subscription 35 No No No  Malaysia IPTV
UniFi Subscription 18 Yes Yes No  Malaysia IPTV
DETV Subscription 33 No No No  Malaysia IPTV
U Television Non-freePay Un­known Un­known Un­known Un­known  Malaysia Digital terrestrial
TrueVisions (from Thailand) Non-freePay 200 (Thai+Inter, no MAS) No Yes No  Thailand Digital satellite from Thailand

Analogue terrestrial television

This is currently the traditional way of receiving television in Malaysia, however it has now largely been supplanted by digital providers. There are 11 channels; three of them are government public-owned by Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) the 2 television channels terrestrial free-to-air TV1 and TV2 while TV Alhijrah are public government-owner by Al Hijrah Media Corporation which TV3, NTV7, 8TV and TV9 are private commercial-owned by Media Prima, Worldview Broadcasting Channel are private commercial-owned by Worldview Broadcasting Channel (Malaysia) Sendirian Berhad[citation needed] are private commercial-owned by Media Citra Bherhad. Analogue terrestrial transmissions were scheduled to be switched off in phases as part of the digital switchover, expected to be completed in 2020 as a recommendation from Southeast Asia, however, it does not come to effect. The frequency has been moved to avoid signal jamming with television in Thailand.

Digital terrestrial television

In 2005, the Ministry of Information announced their plan to digitalise nationwide free-to-air TV broadcasts led by Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM).[1] Trial broadcasts were undertaken, involving one thousand households in the Klang Valley from September 2006 till February 2007. According to the then-Deputy Minister of Information, Chia Kwang Chye, the trial received "very positive" feedback, i.e. "more than 60 percent said the quality of the signal ranged from good to very good. Over 88 percent said the picture quality improved, while 70 percent said the sound quality was better."[2]

On 1 January 2008, TV3 announced that they were carrying out their own tests using a completely different system, T-DMB. However their test transmission is available only to areas surrounding their main headquarters at Sri Pentas, Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya. The test signals consists of a single DAB stream, Fly FM, and two T-DMB streams, TV3 and a Hot Visual, which carries a slide show with audio signal streamed from the radio station Hot FM.

Despite a success of RTM's pilot trials, the digital terrestrial television transition faced many problems. These problems stemmed from the lesser enthautism of content providers toward the digitisation, with the exception Les Copaque, and the need to improve the nation's Internet broadband infrastructure. With the resignation of then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and the succession of Najib Tun Razak, the project by RTM was deferred indefinitely.

Satellite television

Malaysia's sole satellite television operator, MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems (a subsidiary of Astro All Asia Networks) launched the Astro service in launch of the MEASAT-1 satellite as part of Malaysia's commercialisation of space, Astro commenced broadcasting on June 1, 1996 with an initial bouquet of 22 television channels and 8 radio channel.

It currently holds exclusive rights from the Malaysian government to offer satellite television broadcasting services in the country through the year 2017. The rights was extended to 2022 recently.[citation needed] Now, big ugly dishes are still found in Malaysia.

There are also laws preventing too many advertisements from being aired on both radio and television, similar to the United Kingdom.[citation needed]

On December 2011, prime minister Najib Tun Razak announced that free satellite television, NJOI will be available to customer starting February 2012.[3]

International broadcast

Malaysians in the United States and Canada can view TV shows instantly from Malaysia by SES-1 satellite, including television from Thailand and Laos, the channel broadcast are Malay Fun TV, Malaysia Sports (these stations are Malay-language TV in the USA), TVSelangor, Global TV (live from Malaysia).

Cable television

Mega TV was launched in 1994 by TV3 as the only cable television service. However, it faced stiff competition from the satellite television network Astro, and failed to expand its content. Because of this, it closed down in 2001, and was replaced by its competitor since then. [citation needed]

IP television (IPTV)

In contrast to Internet TV, IPTV refers to services operated and controlled by a single company, who may also control the 'Final Mile' to the consumers' premises.

DETV, a new paid television provider owned by REDtone, provides television and video-on-demand services on the IPTV platform, targeting the Chinese audiences in Malaysia.

TM is expected to launch its IPTV services, currently branded Hypp.TV in the second quarter of 2009, and now conducts trials with 1,000 selected households in Klang Valley, Penang and Kulim, Kedah.[4]

TM then successfully released their IPTV based on their HSBB Unifi service which only available to Unifi subscriber.

Mobile television

Maxis, DiGi and U Mobile provide mobile television services for reception on third generation mobile phones. They consist of a mixture of regular channels as well as made for mobile channels with looped content. Maxis TV now offers more than 20 channels to Maxis 3G subscribers who own compatible mobile phones.[5] Yet, Maxis is expected to roll out broadcast mobile TV services based on DVB-H in the near future.[6]

U Mobile also provides broadcast mobile TV to users of selected 3G phones, also based on DVB-H.[7]

In October 2008, Astro launched Astro Mobile TV which currently provides 18 channels, all of which are mobile versions of its existing channels, seven of them are under its own brand. This service is only available to Maxis subscribers with compatible 2.5G or 3G handsets, and does not reprise its role from Maxis TV.

Internet television

Television received via the Internet may be free, subscription or pay-per-view, multicast, unicast, or peer-to-peer, streamed or downloaded, and use a variety of distribution technologies. Playback is normally via a computer and broadband Internet connection, although digital media receivers or media centre computers can be used for playback on televisions, such as a computer equipped with Windows Media Center.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Malaysia to launch digital TV trial program". October 6, 2005. Retrieved June 21, 2008.
  2. ^ "Malaysia adopts DVB-T standard for digital broadcast transmissions". ABU. March 28, 2007. Retrieved June 21, 2008.
  3. ^ "Free satellite TV". The Star. Retrieved November 22, 2011.
  4. ^ Goh, T. E. (June 19, 2008). "TM sees IPTV commercial roll-out in 12 months". Business Times. Retrieved June 21, 2008.
  5. ^ "Maxis 3G in Action – Maxis TV". Retrieved June 21, 2008.
  6. ^ "Maxis completes DVB-H trial". Mobile World. August 28, 2007. Retrieved June 21, 2008.
  7. ^ Timbuong, J. (September 20, 2007). "U Mobile is newest cellular service provider". The Star. Retrieved June 21, 2008.
Name Network Owner Launch date Channel (KL) Broadcasting area Transmitted area Broadcasting hours (UTC+08:00) Runtime Formerly known as
TV1 Radio Televisyen Malaysia Government December 28, 1963 5 VHF Klang Valley Kuala Lumpur 05:30-01:00 19.5 hours Televisyen Malaysia
(31 December 1963-16 November 1969)
Rangkaian Pertama
(17 November 1969-27 December 1978)
Malaysia 1
(28 December 1978-31 December 1986)
TV2 November 19, 1969 8 VHF Klang Valley Kuala Lumpur 24/7 24-hours Rangkaian Kedua
(17 November 1969-6 May 1979)
Malaysia 2
(7 May 1979-31 December 1986)
TV3 Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad Media Prima Berhad June 1, 1984 12 VHF Klang Valley Kuala Lumpur
Ntv7 Natseven Televisyen Sedang Berhad April 7, 1998 37 UHF Klang Valley Kuala Lumpur 07:00-02:00 19-hours
8TV Metropolitan Televisyen Sedang Berhad January 8, 2004 27 UHF Klang Valley Kuala Lumpur 07:00-02:00 19-hours MetroVision Channel 8
(1 July 1995-1 November 1999)
TV9 Channel 9 Sedang Berhad April 22, 2006 33 UHF Klang Valley Kuala Lumpur 06:30-01:30 19-hours Channel 9
(9 September 2003-1 February 2005)
TV AlHijrah AlHijrah Media Corporation Government December 7, 2010 55 UHF Klang Valley Kuala Lumpur 06:00-00:00 18-hours
Worldview Broadcasting Channel Worldview Broadcasting Channel (Malaysia) Sedirian Berhad Malaysia News Television April 1, 2012 39 UHF Klang Valley Kuala Lumpur 18:00-00:00 6-hours
Television in Asia
Sovereign states
States with
limited recognition
Dependencies and
other territories
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